PATCO Fare Collection
Fare collectionedit 30 Years PATCO Old Ticket Old PATCO Ticket Magnetic systemedit From its beginning in 1969, PATCO used a magnetic ticket as the sole means of collecting fares. The plastic tickets may still be bought for single rides through vending machines in the stations. These machines once required coins, so bill changers were placed in stations. Each vending machine was capable of selling two types of tickets, which the rider chose by pushing a button after inserting the correct fare. Several machines were needed in each station, since different types of one-way and two-way tickets needed to be sold. After the ticket was purchased, it was inserted through a turnstile gate. To exit the station, it was inserted again, and if it had rides remaining, returned to the rider. A ticket with no rides was re-encoded by the system and returned to use in the vending machine. Tickets could also be purchased in ten-trip passes, but these were obtained through mail or in an office.19 At its inception, this system was state-of-the-art, but became more problematic as the years went on. Tickets were vulnerable to damage from magnetic sources such as cell phones and PDAs that did not exist when the system was put in place, and the equipment to read and code the farecards began to suffer from extreme reliability problems as well as replacement part availability. Freedom systemedit Main article: Freedom Card In July 2006, PATCO announced that it would start the transition from a magnetic ticket fare system to an electronic smart card system. Magnetic tickets are still sold, for the occasional riders, however they are now in a paper form. The new computer vending machines allow more advanced purchasing options for Freedom Cards (the term used for the smart cards). Payment can now be in the form of coins, bills, credit cards, or debit cards; however, credit and debit cards can only be used to load fare onto a Freedom Card or purchase a new card. PATCO has a system that allows balances to be reloaded on the Internet. Each fare machine in the unpaid areas (i.e. outside the gates) performs all transactions (except for SEPTA transfers in PA stations, as the transfers are only sold on the unpaid side of NJ stations). Also, to augment the call-for-aid phones, there are now exit fare machines located inside of the fare gates, so that if a rider has purchased the wrong fare, they may pay the remaining fare to exit. The system has been in use by the general public at all PATCO stations since its launch in 2007. The system was put into effect in an attempt to gain ridership, which had fallen sharply since its peak in 1990.23 The system was designed, built and integrated by Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc.24 Because of the system's flexibility, it could eventually be used on the SEPTA and RiverLine rail networks, allowing an integration of the systems.20 Because the smart cards store value (instead of "rides") and the paper tickets expire after three days, it is no longer possible to hoard "rides" in advance of a fare increase. Also, the combination of the contactless card payment and the new swinging fare gates have decreased turnstile throughput, resulting in long exit queues after a train discharges a load of passengers at a station. Open paymentedit In September 2011 PATCO started Phase One of a pilot program for a new form of open payment called PATCO Wave And Pay Anywhere. Phase One allowed for a PATCO-branded prepaid Visa card. The card was also put in by CUBIC Transportation Systems. It required a $6.00 balance to travel on PATCO. The card works the same as the Freedom Card except it could be used at any location that accepts Visa. In April 2012, Phase Two of this open payment system was initiated. This phase allowed for station gates and parking terminals to accept other forms of contactless paymentsystems in use by Visa, MasterCard, or Discover. In addition to credit cards with the technology built in, the system also accepted Near field communication virtual wallet payment methods such as Google Wallet.25 This pilot program ended in October 2012. Processing costs were deemed too high to continue the program, which was otherwise considered successful by PATCO management. PATCO